


Running

by MadridistaCR7



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Cristiano is no footballer, Evil Piqué, M/M, Mild Sexual Harrassment, Poor Cristiano, Stripper Cristiano, strip club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 00:00:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7954159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadridistaCR7/pseuds/MadridistaCR7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cristiano is willing to sacrifice everything for his little son, but he struggles to earn enough money, no matter how hard he works.<br/>Lionel just wants to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, English is not my mother tongue, so this is probably full of grammatical errors. If you find mistakes, please tell me so I can correct them.  
> If you’re still reading, here are some important notes:  
> 1\. This is my first fanfiction, so please don't kill me.  
> 2\. In my story Lionel is older than Cristiano, but not much.  
> 3\. I know Lionel's real house looks like a giant football, but I don't like it. That's why I changed it.  
> 4\. Spanish (S) and Portuguese (P) translations are at the bottom.

Cristiano slowly opened his eyes. He felt a small body pressed into his side, familiarly warm and comfortable, and he allowed himself to enjoy this moment of coziness, just a few minutes, until he had to get up and head out for work. He liked mornings, everything was quiet, the world outside of their small apartment was still asleep and nobody disturbed his feeling of peace. Nevertheless, he knew it was time to get going and, with a sigh, he untangled himself cautiously from the sheets to avoid waking his little boy earlier than necessary. After showering and getting dressed he went back to the bedroom to wake Junior. Slowly Cristiano sat down on the edge of the bed, but before he could reach out, the sheets were pulled down and Junior, already awake, appeared and yawned tiredly.

"Morning Daddy," he smiled and jumped into his arms after getting out of the bed.

"Bom dia my love. We have to get you ready, school's starting in half an hour and i can't be late for work on my first day."  
Junior nodded, he knew his Dad needed to be on time, so he hurried to wash himself and went to the door, where Cristiano was already waiting. Luckily the school wasn't far away from their apartment and Cristiano stopped at the small bakery next to it. "Orange juice and a bun with strawberry jam, please," he ordered after asking Junior what he wanted to eat for breakfast. After looking into his purse, he ignored his own empty stomach and took the paper bag from the counter after paying with his last euros. He would eat later, Junior came first and Cristiano would do everything to keep his little boy healthy and happy.  
After dropping him off at his school, Cristiano reached into his bag to take out the square card with the address of his new workplace. He was unbelievable grateful he had been able to find a new job fast, after the office he'd cleaned before had been closed, because he needed the money so bad to pay the rent of their tiny home. He couldn't imagine living on the street with a small child and he would work as hard as possible to protect himself and his son from this fate.  
Following the directions, Cristiano found himself in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of the city, passing large, expensive looking houses while going down the road and searching for the right building. He stopped in front of a high iron gate, and before he could press the button to inform the owners about his presence, the gate opened to give him access to the mansion. A wide gravel path led to the entrance, where an elderly woman was waiting for him.

"Hola. You must be Señor Ronaldo," the woman said with a warm smile. "I'm Mamen Hernandez, I was instructed to show you around and explain your tasks to you."

"Please, just call me Cristiano. It's a pleasure to meet you, Señora," he said and took her outstretched hand with a smile.

"Well, I suppose we should start with the house, it makes the most work, you know." She turned around and went into the long marble hallway, Cristiano closed the front door and started following her.

"I've worked at this place for so long, I don't even know exactly how many years," Mamen laughed. "But everybody gets old one day, and recently I've decided that I've worked enough in my life. So I guess now it's up to you to take care of the house."

She told Cristiano where to find the storeroom with the paraphernalia he needed for cleaning, showed him the different rooms, the garden and the basement, and explained what he was expected to do. After she left Cristiano started to vacuum the floor and wiped it clean afterwards, before he went outside to mow the lawn. The moment he stepped out of the front door, a luxurious red car rolled down the gateway and parked in the garage. The man who emerged from the driving was Lionel Messi, Cristiano had no doubt about that and, after closing the car door, his new boss walked over to him.

"Ah Señor Ronaldo, right? I'm Lionel Messi the proprietor of the estate. I hope Mamen helped you to find your way," he greeted him.

"Buenos dias, Señor Messi. Yes, she helped me to settle in and showed me around, it was really helpful ... I mean it's a pretty big place you have," he answered.

When they were shaking hands, Cristiano's stomach growled loudly. Embarrassed he tried to hush it up, but the other man just laughed.

"Haven't you eaten lunch yet? You sound quite hungry. There are some diners and Take Aways down the road, you're free to eat there at lunchtime. And it's already half past 12."

"Oh ... it's okay, really, I'm not that hungry," Cristiano politely declined the offer, thinking of his empty purse.  
Lionel narrowed his eyes and looked confused at his new employee. "Are you sure? If you don't want to go eating there, maybe you could use the kitchen to cook something for yourself? If you want to."

Cristiano stared at him for moment, he was so relieved he would get some free food, he almost couldn't believe what he just heard. "Thank you so much Señor Messi, I would really appreciate that. Should I cook a portion for you, too?"

"I've already eaten with a friend of mine, thank you. And please, call me Lionel, i guess I'm not that much older than you are. Or Leo, choose what you prefer."

Cristiano nodded gratefully and thanked the footballer again, turned around and made his way to the kitchen, suppressing the urge to run there as fast as possible. He didn't want to make a fool of himself. Lionel remained in the garden and watched the young man heading inside, still surprised and a bit bewildered about his gratitude for something as simple as food. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that something wasn't the right.

When he was finished with eating and mowing the lawn, Cristiano searched for his boss to say goodbye, and found him in the living room.  
"Leo?" The older man smiled at the use of his nickname and looked up to see Cristiano standing in the door.

"Yes, Cristiano?"

"I just wanted to say I'm done with work and I'll go now because I promised my son I would pick him up from school, so..." he murmured.  
"Ah sure, the envelope with your payment lies on the sideboard in the hallway. How old is your son?"

"Crissi is six. It's his first year in school and he's doing very well," Cristiano answered softly, and he sounded a little bit proud. Lionel smiled in return.

"Thiago's 7. If you want you can bring your boy with you at the weekend, maybe they'd like to play with each other."

"I'll ask him if he wants to come."

"So, I'll see you in two days?"

"Yes. And it's Cris," he said with a shy smile and waved his goodbye.  
Leaving the house, Cristiano pressed the envelope with the money firmly to his chest.  
After buying some necessary supplies and picking up Junior, they went home together and Cristiano helped his little boy with his homework. When they were finished, they decided to cook noodles with tomato sauce, Crissi’s favourite. Cristiano put the noodles in the pot and started cutting onions, while Junior babbled happily about all the new things he learned today, demonstrating his dad how high he jumped in his Physical Education lesson.

"Whoa little man I'm impressed, i guess we just found a new superhero," Cristiano laughed cheerfully. "But now sit down please, dinner's almost ready."

Shoving a spoon noodles into his mouth, Junior beamed at him.  
"Señora García told us we'll do a trip to the zoo next week, that's why we have to bring fifteen euros in the next few days," he chattered excitedly.

Cristiano closed his eyes for a second. Then he forced a weak smile on his face, he didn't want Junior to sense his distress. A 6-year-old shouldn't have to deal with financial problems.

"I'll give you the money tomorrow morning. And now you could draw me a picture while i do the dishes, okay?"

Crissi nodded and went to get paper and pencils. Later they made themselves ready to go to bed, and Junior already waited curled up in the bed when his father came out of their tiny bathroom. Cristiano was aware of the fact that, sooner or later, his son would need his own bed, but at the moment he just couldn't afford a bigger flat. He would deal with this problem some other time. Crissi immediately snuggled closer when he lied down and Cristiano wrapped him in his arms and held him tightly. Junior's breaths slowly became even and when he was asleep, Cristiano pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, covered with dark curls. Then he slowly got up to the bathroom to freshen up. Cristiano hated leaving his child alone at home, especially at night, but he had no other option. The money he made with cleaning simply wasn't enough and there weren't many jobs you could do without finishing school. With a heavy heart he stepped outside, locked the door and went down the stairs.

Finally on the street he shivered, and pulled his thin jacket tighter around himself, trying to keep away the cold wind. Cristiano walked fast and tugged his hood over his face when he entered the club, obscene red neon letters blinking at the entrance. Inside he made his way to the changing room, undressed and put on only the lace lingerie panties, which were lying in his shelf.

Cristiano took a deep breath and tried to collect himself before he passed through the door to the main room, full with repulsive men gaping at the exotic dancers and looking for someone to have fun with. The owner of the club, a vile, old guy, headed him off before he could reach one of the metal poles on the stage.

"You can go to one of the backrooms right away. Piqué requested a private dance from you again ... guess he took a liking in your cute lil' ass," he smirked disgustingly and gave the younger men a provocative slap on his butt.   
Cristiano jerked at the touch and hurried to get away. He went to his normal room until his client arrived, who wanted his usual private pole dance. Cristiano hated him and his rough hands, but Piqué paid well and he couldn't afford to lose one his regulars. He didn't sell himself, even though he knew they could use the money, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to give away all of his dignity.

Nevertheless, touching was allowed, and that was already almost more than he was able to endure. When Piqué left after sticking the money in his panties, Cristiano remained sitting in the room for some minutes, head buried in his hands. Then he went back to the main room and danced on the stage with some others, until his boss took his part of the money and told him his shift was over.

At home Cristiano instantly went into the shower, trying to wash off the dirty feeling of harsh hands all over his body. Afterwards he climbed into the bed and fell asleep, hugging Junior tight to his chest.

Two days later he was at the mansion again, but this time Lionel was at home when he arrived.

"Hola Cris, I've already waited for you. I'll have a guest today, my old friend Gerard will visit me at lunchtime and that's why I wanted to ask if you could cook for us, too? I would pay you extra, of course," he said and looked at him pleadingly.

Cristiano nodded. "Sure, that's no problem at all. Do you have any preferences?"

"Nah, I think we'll eat everything," Leo winked.

Cristiano blushed and walked a way to get the cleaning equipment. When he was done with the house and the garden, he went into the kitchen and after a look into the fridge he decided to cook lemon chicken. After half an hour Lionel poked his head into the kitchen.

"What are you cooking? It smells absolutely delicious!" he screamed over the noise coming from the extractor hood.

"Lemon chicken," Cristiano shouted back, a small smile on his face.

Then Leo came into the room, looked over his shoulder and asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Well, it's almost ready but maybe you could set the table..."

"Good idea," the footballer answered and opened one of the kitchen drawers to take out three plates and silverware. The doorbell started ringing after Lionel had placed the glasses on the table and he went through the hallway to open the front door. Cristiano stayed in the kitchen stirring the rice, but stopped on his tracks when he heard the voice of the guest. Somehow it sounded quite familiar. He waited for the men, curious who Leo's friend was.

When the door opened and Leo and his friend entered the kitchen, Cristiano instinctively took a step back.

It was Piqué.

At first the man looked as shocked as Cristiano, but then the surprised look on his face turned into a spiteful smirk.

"Nice to see you pretty, I didn't know you can be rented during the day. Guess dancing isn't your only talent then ...," he grinned and cornered him into the kitchen counter.

Mortified Cristiano looked down and clenched his fingers into his shirt, suddenly feeling sick.

Lionel looked back and forth between the two guys.

"What are you talking about? Do you know each other?" he asked confused.

"Well, I suppose you can put it that way, mi amigo. I already had the pleasure of spending some time with your delightful visitor," Piqué grinned at him.

Cristiano couldn't take this. "I have to go," he gulped out, shoved Piqué away and ran outside as fast as possible, not stopping or looking back when he heard Leo shouting his name.

He felt the tears streaming down his face, but he couldn't stop them from falling. The people he passed stared at him curiously, but he ignored them and kept running until he reached his home. Upstairs Cristiano threw himself desperately on the bed, sobbing.

Piqué probably already told Lionel about his other job in the strip club and he would sack him now he knew his cleaner was a whore, Cristiano had no doubt about that.

He wouldn't get a free meal at lunchtime. He wouldn't earn enough to pay the rent for the apartment and feed his son. He wouldn't be able to get to know Leo better, because the footballer surely wouldn't want to have anything to do with somebody like him. And Cristiano had really started to like the guy, secretly hoping that Leo felt the same, but now everything was over anyway.

Some hours later, he tiredly gathered himself up, washed his face and picked up Crissi from school.

"Papai? Are you okay?" Junior asked, sounding worried and looked up to him with big eyes.

"Of course meu amor, why shouldn't i be, with such an awesome son," Cristiano answered and lifted him into his arms, trying to change the topic. It worked. Junior smiled and hugged his dad.

"Can we go to the park daddy? I have some bread left from the Sandwich we got at school today and i want to feed the ducks. Please."  
Cristiano nodded. They walked to the park and sat down on a bench next to the lake, throwing breadcrumbs into the water and watching the younger ducks. 

Junior was already in bed when somebody knocked on the door. Cristiano carefully pulled it open a small gap, not sure who to expect at this late hour.  
Leo. Cristiano's heart stopped.

"Cris? Can I ... can I come in maybe? I wanted to talk to you," he said hopefully.

"Oh. Sure ... if you want to," the younger man said dubiously and moved aside to let the other one in.

"Is your son at home?" Lionel asked and sat down on the old, worn out couch, looking around in the flat.

"Yes. Junior is already sleeping," he told the footballer, still standing in door frame, unsure of what to do.

"Don't you want to sit down?" Leo asked with a gentle smile.

Cristiano nodded and sat down, mutely staring at the floor.

"So ... Gerard told me where he met you," Leo started after some seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"I already assumed he did."

"I kicked him out afterwards. And i don't wanna see him ever again."

"What? Why would you do that?" Cristiano asked astonished.

"He said some condescending and disgraceful things I don't wanna repeat and then I just lost it. I'd thought he was a good guy, but I guess I've deceived. But now back to yourself. Why did you run away?"

Cristiano lowered his eyes nervously. "I ... I was ashamed. And afraid."

"Afraid of what?" 

"Of your reaction."

"Of my reaction? What the hell did you expect me to do?"

"I thought if you find out what I am, you wouldn't want anything to do with me, and you'd be disgusted," Cristiano whispered hesitantly.

Lionel looked at him unbelievingly and took Cristiano's hands in his own, carefully interlacing their fingers.  
"What you are? You're a wonderful person and your job in doesn't change this, okay?"

"I'm dirty."

"No, Cris. You're not. You're ten times better than Gerard, or all the other men visiting this club!"

"I just ... I didn't know what to do. I hate the strangers touching me, but we needed the money, Junior already has to do without so many things and I just want him to be happy," Cristiano started to sob, not able to hold back anymore.

"It's okay, Cristiano. Nobody blames you, okay? You simply did everything possible to enable your son a childhood without too many worries."

"You understand it?"

"Sure I do. But you can't work there anymore, I can see that you're suffering," Lionel said concerned.

"I can't quit, I need this job. Without it, the rent for our apartment is too high."

There was a short silence until Leo suddenly lifted his head. "Move in with me," he blurted out.

"What?" Cristiano stared at him, eyes wide.

"Move in. We have so many unused rooms in our house, it's a waste. There's plenty of space for you and Crissi."

"That's a really kind offer Leo, but I can't accept it. I wouldn't be able to pay you or give you anything back in return," the younger man refused, not wanting to take advantage of Leo's kindness.

"Come on, Cris. If it's so important to you to give something back, you can keep cleaning the mansion and everything will be fine!"

"I - I'm not sure, Leo... "

"Let me help you. Please. I have more than enough and I want to share it with you."

"I have to talk to Crissi first. I want to ask him about his opinion, too."

"Papai?" a small voice came out of the bedroom sudden, the door opened and Junior entered the room, clutching his old teddy bear. Then he pointed at Lionel. "Who are you?" he asked inquisitively.

"Hey little man, I'm Leo. I'm a friend of your dad.”  
The boy still looked bewildered.

"Papai, why are you crying?"

"It's nothing meu coração, don't worry. But i wanted to ask you something ... would you like to move in with Leo? He has a son, just one year older than you, so you would have somebody to play with, too."

"I'm sure Thiago would be thrilled, he always wanted a brother," Lionel added.

"Okay. But I can still sleep with Papai if i want to, can I?"

"Sure buddy," Leo answered and gave Cristiano a warm smile over Junior's head. Cristiano smiled back, more lightheartedly than ever before.

The next day Lionel canceled training to assist Cristiano packing their stuff while the boys were in school. It wasn't much anyway, only three boxes, and Cris had tried to convince him that he'll manage it alone, but Leo had insisted to help him. When they were ready they drove to Junior's school to pick him up and when Cristiano asked about Thiago, Lionel told him his grandmother would fetch him. 

Once they drove into the driveway, an old woman and a little boy came out of the mansion and waited for them to leave the car. The woman greeted Leo first, before she pulled Cristiano into a hug, too. At first he was surprised, but then he melted into the warm embrace.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, I'm Celia, Lionel's mother," she said with an open-hearted smile.

"The pleasure is all mine. I'm Cristiano."

"Oh i know darling, Leo talked about nothing else yesterday!”

Cristiano blushed slightly and Lionel groaned embarrassed.

"Mamá, please."

"There's no reason to hide it my son," she pointed out happily. "But I have to go, your father is probably already waiting. Enjoy your day you two!" And with that, she went away.

Cristiano looked around. "Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are the kids?"

They found them in Thiago's bedroom, sitting on the carpet and playing with some colorful cars, too engrossed to notice their dads watching them. Lionel quietly closed the door again.

"Well, I guess they'll become good friends," he observed pleased.

"So, you wanna go swimming? I could borrow you some trunks."

"Yes, why not? I haven't been swimming for ages."

After changing in the bathroom, Cristiano walked downstairs, where the indoor swimming pool was located.   
When he looked into the room, he saw Leo standing at the edge of the pool and silently went closer, before he pushed him into the pool with one shove. Laughing Cristiano watched as Leo appeared on the surface again, snorting.   
Lionel grinned suspicious-looking and before he knew it, Cristiano was in the cold water, too.

"That's what you get for trying to trick me," Leo shouted and tried to catch Cristiano, who attempted to flee, laughing. The older man caught him quickly, pushing him into the wall of the pool.  
Cristiano looked up at him and slowly closed his eyes, his long lashes flattering on his cheeks, droplets of water running down his skin.

Leo gently cupped his face, pressing his mouth softly on Cristiano's, gently letting his tongue slip in when the other man parted his lips. Then he pulled back and simply looked at him.

"You're beautiful. I'm so happy you are here with me."

"Me too Leo, me too."

This was everything Cristiano had ever hoped for.

**Author's Note:**

> "Bom dia"(P), "Buenos dias"(S) = "Good morning";  
> "Meu amor"(P) = "My love";  
> "Papai"(P) = "Daddy";  
> "Meu coração"(P) = "My heart";  
> "Hola"(S) = "Hello";  
> "Mi amigo" (S) = "My friend"


End file.
